The Ming-Na Measure: A handy way of taking failure’s temperature

The reason we attend all these press tours, besides enduring torture for your general entertainment, is that there’s no better way to figure out whether a series has a shot at survival than to meet the people who are making it. Put a producer in front of two-hund– OK, wait, this is Fox. Put a producer in front of about 60 critics, and you can tell what they’re worth.

The ones that keep their cool and meet questions about their new series with concrete direct answers, those are the men and women you want at the helm. Now, that doesn’t always mean the series will last. This morning we met the cast and producers of “Justice,” Fox’s version of a legal drama starring Victor Garber and Eamonn Walker as high-profile defense attorneys. Executive producer Jonathan Shapiro regaled us with stories from his days as a lawyer and explained to us the ways in which his experiences will be applied to the scripts. The pilot, while nowhere near outstanding, is solid. The cast is gorgeous and acceptable. Shapiro seems to know what he’s doing.

However, I’m sure he seemed just as confident when he was talking up “Just Legal” last year. The guy used to be a lawyer, remember? So yeah, hard to tell with this one.

It’s easier to predict that “Vanished” will devolve into a puddle because Ming-Na was on the panel. A tragedy because I was sort of intrigued by “Vanished,” a conspiracy thriller that centers on the disappearance of a Georgia senator’s wife. Much weirdness involving symbols and deceit follows. Looks interesting.

The story’s so complex, in fact, that it appears to have gone over the producers heads, a notion that was not lost on Ming-Na. Her face might as well be the screen on a digital thermometer: Keep an eye on it, and you can read the health of a series down to a tenth of a degree. This happened last summer when she appeared to talk about “Inconceivable,” an NBC drama that aired about three times before NBC took it out in the woods and shot it. Ming-Na took the stage then and immediately adopted a confrontational expression, complete with pursed lips. That translates to, “I give this series two weeks, three tops.”

Then the questions kicked off, including one about whether viewers will really buy this over NBC’s “Kidnapped,” which has a very similar premise.

“I haven’t seen that pilot,” said executive producer Josh Berman, who has written for “CSI” and looks about 13 years old, “but I understand that it’s just a straightforward kidnapping. This show is about so much more. It’s about a family that’s interrupted by a kidnapping. And we fall in love with these characters …”

“Oh? Well,” Berman smiled wider, looking a bit twitchy. “Ideally, these characters have a lot of stories to tell, and there are a lot of secrets that will unfold. And it can certainly go beyond one season!”

“I guess what I’m saying is,” our crusading critic continued, “how long do you think you can draw it out before you either have to bring (the senator’s wife) back or kill her?”

At this point, Ming-Na started looking like someone had just cold-cocked her with a ham. Stage two. The shock spread across her face, and then she scanned the room from right to left. She probably noticed that a number of the chairs were empty. Her showrunner was frantically assuring us that we’ll love her and her castmates. She knows he shouldn’t have to tell us this. Uh oh.

Then people started asking questions about Georgia, Arkansas, and the classic “can you describe your character” question, which is what we ask when we’re trying to fill the time. Ming-Na, well aware of this, leaned back in her chair, pursed her lips and started fanning herself like a morbidly obese church lady in August. Final stage. This puppy’s going down.

Granted, every clock is off from time to time, and it’ll help to see the second and third episodes to get a sense of whether or not we’re reading her correctly. Could be that I’m totally off-base about the Ming-Na Measure, and the producers will surprise us by pulling off this “Vanished” business. Who knows?